1993–94 NHL season

The 1993–94 NHL season was the 77th regular season of the National Hockey League. The league expanded to 26 teams with the addition of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Florida Panthers. The New York Rangers were the Stanley Cup champions. It was the Rangers' fourth championship overall, and their first in 54 seasons, since 1939–40.

1993–94 NHL season
LeagueNational Hockey League
SportIce hockey
DurationOctober 5, 1993 – June 14, 1994
Number of games84
Number of teams26
Draft
Top draft pickAlexandre Daigle
Picked byOttawa Senators
Regular season
Presidents' TrophyNew York Rangers
Season MVPSergei Fedorov (Red Wings)
Top scorerWayne Gretzky (Kings)
Playoffs
Eastern championsNew York Rangers
  Eastern runners-upNew Jersey Devils
Western championsVancouver Canucks
  Western runners-upToronto Maple Leafs
Playoffs MVPBrian Leetch (Rangers)
Stanley Cup
ChampionsNew York Rangers
  Runners-upVancouver Canucks

The spectacular play of Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres ushered in a new era of goaltending dominance in the NHL. Only three teams reached the 300-goal plateau, and only one team, the Detroit Red Wings, averaged more than four goals scored per game.[1] Goaltenders combined for 99 shutouts during the regular season,[2] a mark that broke the all-time regular-season record of 85 set in 1974–75.[3]

League business

For this season, the names of the conferences were changed from Campbell and Wales to Western and Eastern respectively, and the divisions' names were changed from Adams, Patrick, Norris, and Smythe to Northeast, Atlantic, Central, and Pacific respectively.[4] Each division had changes. The Northeast Division would welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins, previously from the Patrick Division. The Atlantic Division would welcome the newcomer Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning, previously from the Norris Division. The Central Division would welcome the Winnipeg Jets, previously from the Smythe Division. The Pacific Division would welcome the newcomer Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. New league commissioner Gary Bettman, who had previously worked in the National Basketball Association (NBA), thought the old names could be confusing to non-traditional fans and believed that a change to geographically-named divisions, as used in the NBA and most other North American professional sports, would be more easily understandable to new fans.

In addition, the playoff format was changed to a conference based seeding over division specific brackets: the division winners were seeded one-two by order of point finish, then the top six remaining teams in the conference were seeded three through eight.[4] However, unlike the NBA, the NHL matched the highest-seeded winners against the lowest-seeded winners in the second round. In order to reduce the number of long trips to and from the West Coast, whenever a Central Division team played a Pacific Division team in the playoffs, the format was 2–3–2 rather than the traditional 2–2–1–1–1, a format that was only used for the 1993–94 season.

Franchise changes

Regular season

The Panthers and Mighty Ducks set new records for first-year expansion teams. Both teams finished with 33 wins, surpassing the 31 wins of the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings in 1967–68. That mark would not be topped by another expansion team until the Vegas Golden Knights notched their 34th win in their inaugural season on February 1, 2018, finishing with 51 wins.[5] The Panthers also set a high-water mark in points, with 83 points, surpassing the previous record set by the Flyers' 73 points in 1967–68. The Golden Knights would eventually shatter this inaugural expansion team record by 26 points notching a total of 109 points in 2017–18.

The division first-place finishers qualify for the playoffs as 1-2 seeding. The next six per conference are the teams with the six best records of the non-division winners.

Final standings

Eastern Conference
R GP W L T GF GA Pts
1 p-New York Rangers *8452248299231112
2 x-Pittsburgh Penguins *84442713299285101
3 New Jersey Devils84472512306220106
4 Boston Bruins8442291328925297
5 Montreal Canadiens8441291428324896
6 Buffalo Sabres844332928221895
7 Washington Capitals8439351027726388
8 New York Islanders8436361228226484
9 Florida Panthers8433341723323383
10 Philadelphia Flyers8435391029431480
11 Quebec Nordiques843442827729276
12 Tampa Bay Lightning8430431122425171
13 Hartford Whalers842748922728863
14 Ottawa Senators841461920139737
Final standings

bold – Qualified for playoffs; x – Won division; p – Won Presidents' Trophy (and division); * – Division leader

Atlantic Division
No. CR GP W L T GF GA Pts
11z-New York Rangers8452248299231112
23New Jersey Devils84472512306220106
37Washington Capitals8439351027726388
48New York Islanders8436361228226484
59Florida Panthers8433341723323383
610Philadelphia Flyers8435391029431480
712Tampa Bay Lightning8430431122425171

[6]

Northeast Division
No. CR GP W L T GF GA Pts
12Pittsburgh Penguins84442713299285101
24Boston Bruins8442291328925297
35Montreal Canadiens8441291428324896
46Buffalo Sabres844332928221895
511Quebec Nordiques843442827729276
613Hartford Whalers842748922728863
714Ottawa Senators841461920139737
[6]
Western Conference[7]
R Div GP W L T GF GA Pts
1y- Detroit Red Wings *CEN8446308356275100
2x- Calgary Flames *PAC8442291330225697
3Toronto Maple LeafsCEN8443291228024398
4Dallas StarsCEN8442291328626597
5St. Louis BluesCEN8440331127028391
6Chicago BlackhawksCEN843936925424087
7Vancouver CanucksPAC844140327927685
8San Jose SharksPAC8433351625226582
9Mighty Ducks of AnaheimPAC843346522925171
10Los Angeles KingsPAC8427451229432266
11Edmonton OilersPAC8425451426130564
12Winnipeg JetsCEN842451924534457

Divisions: CEN – Central, PAC – Pacific

bold – Qualified for playoffs; x – Won division; y – Won Conference (and division); * – Division leader

Central Division
No. CR GP W L T GF GA Pts
11Detroit Red Wings8446308356275100
22Toronto Maple Leafs8443291228024398
34Dallas Stars8442291328626597
45St. Louis Blues8440331127028391
56Chicago Blackhawks843936925424087
612Winnipeg Jets842451924534457

[6]

Pacific Division
No. CR GP W L T GF GA Pts
13Calgary Flames8442291330225697
27Vancouver Canucks844140327927685
38San Jose Sharks8433351625226582
49Mighty Ducks of Anaheim843346522925171
510Los Angeles Kings8427451229432266
611Edmonton Oilers8425451426130564

[6]

       No = Division rank, CR = Conference rank, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
       Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Playoffs

For the first time, all four former WHA teams (Edmonton, Hartford, Quebec, and Winnipeg) failed to make the playoffs in the same season.

Final

The Final pitted the New York Rangers, seeking to win their first Cup since 1940, versus the Vancouver Canucks, looking for their first-ever Cup win. The series was hard-fought and went the full seven games. The Rangers took a 3–1 series lead, but the Canucks won the next two to force a game seven in New York. The Rangers won the game 3–2 to win their fourth Stanley Cup.

NY Rangers (1) vs. Vancouver (7)
Date Away Score Home Score OT
May 31Vancouver3New York2OT
June 2Vancouver1New York3
June 4New York5Vancouver1
June 7New York4Vancouver2
June 9Vancouver6New York3
June 11New York1Vancouver4
June 14Vancouver2New York3
New York Rangers wins series 4–3
and Stanley Cup.
Brian Leetch (NY Rangers)
wins Conn Smythe Trophy.

Playoff bracket

  Conference Quarterfinals Conference Semifinals Conference Finals Stanley Cup Finals
                                     
1 NY Rangers 4     1 NY Rangers 4  
8 NY Islanders 0     7 Washington 1  
2 Pittsburgh 2 Eastern Conference
7 Washington 4  
    1 NY Rangers 4  
  3 New Jersey 3  
3 New Jersey 4  
6 Buffalo 3  
4 Boston 4   3 New Jersey 4
5 Montreal 3     4 Boston 2  
  E1 NY Rangers 4
(Pairings are re-seeded after the first round.)
  W7 Vancouver 3
1 Detroit 3     3 Toronto 4
8 San Jose 4     8 San Jose 3  
2 Calgary 3
7 Vancouver 4  
  3 Toronto 1
  7 Vancouver 4  
3 Toronto 4  
6 Chicago 2   Western Conference
4 Dallas 4   4 Dallas 1
5 St. Louis 0     7 Vancouver 4  
  • During the first three rounds home ice is determined by seeding number, not position on the bracket. In the Finals the team with the better regular season record has home ice.

Awards

The NHL awards presentation took place on June 16, 1994.

1993–94 NHL Awards
Presidents' Trophy:New York Rangers
Prince of Wales Trophy:
(Eastern Conference playoff champion)
New York Rangers
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:
(Western Conference playoff champion)
Vancouver Canucks
Art Ross Trophy:Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles Kings
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy:Cam Neely, Boston Bruins
Calder Memorial Trophy:Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
Conn Smythe Trophy:Brian Leetch, New York Rangers
Frank J. Selke Trophy:Sergei Fedorov, Detroit Red Wings
Hart Memorial Trophy:Sergei Fedorov, Detroit Red Wings
Jack Adams Award:Jacques Lemaire, New Jersey Devils
James Norris Memorial Trophy:Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins
King Clancy Memorial Trophy:Adam Graves, New York Rangers
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles Kings
Lester B. Pearson Award:Sergei Fedorov, Detroit Red Wings
NHL Plus/Minus Award:Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils
Vezina Trophy:Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres
William M. Jennings Trophy:Dominik Hasek and Grant Fuhr, Buffalo Sabres
Lester Patrick Trophy:Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles Kings
Robert Ridder, U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

All-Star teams

First team  Position  Second team
Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres G John Vanbiesbrouck, Florida Panthers
Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins D Al MacInnis, Calgary Flames
Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils D Brian Leetch, New York Rangers
Sergei Fedorov, Detroit Red Wings C Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles Kings
Pavel Bure, Vancouver Canucks RW Cam Neely, Boston Bruins
Brendan Shanahan, St. Louis Blues LW Adam Graves, New York Rangers

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Player Team GP G A Pts
Wayne GretzkyLos Angeles813892130
Sergei FedorovDetroit825664120
Adam OatesBoston773280112
Doug GilmourToronto832784111
Pavel BureVancouver766047107
Jeremy RoenickChicago844661107
Mark RecchiPhiladelphia844067107
Brendan ShanahanSt. Louis815250102
Dave AndreychukToronto83534699
Jaromir JagrPittsburgh80326799

[6]

Leading goaltenders

Player Team GP MIN GA SO GAA
Dominik HasekBuffalo58335810971.95
Martin BrodeurNew Jersey47262510532.40
Patrick RoyMontreal68386716172.50
John VanbiesbrouckFlorida57344014512.53
Mike RichterNew York Rangers68371015952.57
Darcy WakalukDallas3620008832.64
Ed BelfourChicago70399817872.67
Daren PuppaTampa Bay63365316542.71
Chris TerreriNew Jersey44234010622.72
Mark FitzpatrickFlorida158193622.73

[8]

Milestones

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1993–94 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Last games

The following is a list of players of note who played their last game in the NHL in 1993–94 (listed with their last team):

Trading deadline

Trading deadline: March 21, 1994.[9]

  • March 19, 1994: Donald Dufresne traded from Tampa Bay to Los Angeles for Los Angeles's sixth round pick in 1994 Entry Draft.
  • March 19, 1994: Jeff Daniels traded from Pittsburgh to Florida for Greg Hawgood.
  • March 19, 1994: Doug Zmolek and Mike Lalor traded from San Jose to Dallas for Ulf Dahlen.
  • March 21, 1994: Joe Juneau traded from Boston to Washington for Al Iafrate.
  • March 21, 1994: Craig Janney traded from Vancouver to St. Louis for Jeff Brown, Bret Hedican and Nathan Lafayette.
  • March 21, 1994: Jim Johnson traded from Dallas to Washington for Alan May and Washington's seventh round pick in 1995 Entry Draft.
  • March 21, 1994: Joe Reekie traded from Tampa Bay to Washington for Enrico Ciccone and Washington's third round pick in 1994 Entry Draft and a conditional draft pick.
  • March 21, 1994: Steve Konroyd traded from Detroit to Ottawa for Daniel Berthiaume.
  • March 21, 1994: Phil Bourque traded from NY Rangers to Ottawa for future considerations.
  • March 21, 1994: Tony Amonte and the rights to Matt Oates traded from NY Rangers to Chicago for Stephane Matteau and Brian Noonan.
  • March 21, 1994: Peter Andersson traded from NY Rangers to Florida for future considerations.
  • March 21, 1994: Robert Dirk traded from Vancouver to Chicago for Chicago's fourth round pick in 1994 Entry Draft.
  • March 21, 1994: Mike Gartner traded from NY Rangers to Toronto for Glenn Anderson, the rights to Scott Malone and Toronto's fourth round pick in 1994 Entry Draft.
  • March 21, 1994: Craig MacTavish traded from Edmonton to NY Rangers for Todd Marchant.
  • March 21, 1994: Paul Ysebaert traded from Winnipeg to Chicago for Chicago's third round pick in 1995 Entry Draft.
  • March 21, 1994: Alexei Kasatonov traded from Anaheim to St. Louis for Maxim Bets and St. Louis' sixth round pick in 1995 Entry Draft.
  • March 21, 1994: Mike Needham traded from Pittsburgh to Dallas for Jim McKenzie.
  • March 21, 1994: Kevin Todd traded from Chicago to Los Angeles for Los Angeles's fourth round pick in the 1994 Entry Draft.
  • March 21, 1994: Pelle Eklund traded from Philadelphia to Dallas for future considerations.
  • March 21, 1994: Roy Mitchell and Reid Simpson traded from Dallas to New Jersey for future considerations.
  • March 21, 1994: Steve Passmore traded from Quebec to Edmonton for Brad Werenka.

Neutral site games

As a part of the 1992 strike settlement, the NHL and Bruce McNall's Multivision Marketing and Public Relations Co. organized 26 regular season games in cities without a franchise as a litmus test for future expansion.

The Stars played a neutral-site game in their previous market of Minnesota at the Target Center in Minneapolis, where they were greeted enthusiastically. The Minnesota North Stars' tradition of playing on New Year's Eve and holding a post-game skate on the ice was also continued with a game between the Flyers and Bruins.

The Lightning vs. Red Wings contest in Minneapolis was scheduled for Martin Luther King Day, a Monday, necessitating an afternoon face-off at 2:05 PM. However, due to an error on the NHL's part, the Lightning believed themselves to be playing at 7:35 PM, an error that was only discovered two weeks prior to the game by reporters. The Lightning ended up playing an 8:05 PM game in Winnipeg, flying back to the U.S., and playing again 18 hours later in Minneapolis.

The Panthers, in the midst of a playoff race, played a March "home" game against the Maple Leafs 30 miles from Toronto, at Hamilton.

Complete list of neutral-site games

Date Winning Team Score Losing Team Score OT City State/Province Arena Attendance
October 21, 1993 St. Louis 5 San Jose 2 Sacramento CA ARCO Arena 7,144
October 31, 1993 NY Rangers 4 New Jersey 1 Halifax NS Halifax Metro Centre 8,200
November 3, 1993 Pittsburgh 6 Buffalo 2 Sacramento CA ARCO Arena 10,117
November 9, 1993 Anaheim 4 Dallas 2 Phoenix AZ America West Arena 8,143
November 18, 1993 NY Islanders 5 Montréal 1 Hamilton ON Copps Coliseum 17,008
December 9, 1993 Dallas 6 Ottawa 1 Minneapolis MN Target Center 14,058
December 23, 1993 Vancouver 4 Calgary 3 Saskatoon SK Saskatchewan Place 11,429*
December 31, 1993 Philadelphia 4 Boston 3 Minneapolis MN Target Center 10,855
January 4, 1994 Tampa Bay 1 Toronto 0 Hamilton ON Copps Coliseum 17,526*
January 5, 1994 Montréal 2 Québec 0 Phoenix AZ America West Arena 11,393
January 6, 1994 St. Louis 2 Hartford 1 Cleveland OH Richfield Coliseum 6,956
January 17, 1994 Detroit 6 Tampa Bay 3 Minneapolis MN Target Center 8,764
January 23, 1994 Vancouver 5 Edmonton 4 (OT) Saskatoon SK Saskatchewan Place N/A
January 24, 1994 Calgary 3 Los Angeles 3 (OT) Phoenix AZ America West Arena 14,864
February 2, 1994 Washington 5 Philadelphia 2 Cleveland OH Richfield Coliseum 8,312
February 8, 1994 San Jose 4 Chicago 3 Sacramento CA ARCO Arena 14,182*
February 22, 1994 Florida 3 Winnipeg 2 Hamilton ON Copps Coliseum 6,291
February 24, 1994 Detroit 3 Hartford 0 Cleveland OH Richfield Coliseum 11,621
March 4, 1994 Winnipeg 6 Ottawa 1 Minneapolis MN Target Center 6,388
March 8, 1994 Chicago 3 Anaheim 0 Phoenix AZ America West Arena 13,847
March 9, 1994 NY Rangers 7 Washington 5 Halifax NS Halifax Metro Centre 9,200*
March 18, 1994 Buffalo 2 NY Islanders 2 (OT) Minneapolis MN Target Center 8,016
March 23, 1994 Florida 1 Toronto 1 (OT) Hamilton ON Copps Coliseum 17,096*
March 27, 1994 New Jersey 5 Quebec 2 Minneapolis MN Target Center 6,222
April 3, 1994 Pittsburgh 6 Boston 2 Cleveland OH Richfield Coliseum 17,224
April 3, 1994 Los Angeles 6 Edmonton 1 Sacramento CA ARCO Arena 10,363

Coaches

Eastern Conference

Team Coach Comments
Boston Bruins Brian Sutter
Buffalo Sabres John Muckler
Florida Panthers Roger Neilson
Hartford Whalers Pierre McGuire Replaced midseason by Paul Holmgren
Montreal Canadiens Jacques Demers
New Jersey Devils Jacques Lemaire
New York Islanders Al Arbour
New York Rangers Mike Keenan
Ottawa Senators Rick Bowness
Philadelphia Flyers Terry Simpson
Pittsburgh Penguins Eddie Johnston
Quebec Nordiques Pierre Page
Tampa Bay Lightning Terry Crisp
Washington Capitals Terry Murray Replaced late in the season by Jim Schoenfeld

Western Conference

Team Coach Comments
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Ron Wilson
Calgary Flames Dave King
Chicago Blackhawks Darryl Sutter
Dallas Stars Bob Gainey
Detroit Red Wings Scotty Bowman
Edmonton Oilers Ted Green Replaced early in the season by Glen Sather
Los Angeles Kings Barry Melrose
St. Louis Blues Bob Berry
San Jose Sharks Kevin Constantine
Toronto Maple Leafs Pat Burns
Vancouver Canucks Pat Quinn
Winnipeg Jets John Paddock

Hat Tricks

gollark: Firefox on Android supports addons, which is neat.
gollark: Wait, you're in *two* cults?
gollark: Except in your web browser, I guess.
gollark: Which are even worse on servers, since cloud platforms run VMs containing not-really-trusted code, while on consumer machines you could *maybe* get away with turning mitigations off since you don't.
gollark: Ryzen has the great advantage of not gaining exciting new vulnerabilities every month, too.

See also

References

  • Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Hockey. Kingston, NY: Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Toronto, ON: Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5.
  • Dryden, Steve, ed. (2000). Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd. ISBN 0-7710-4179-9.
  • Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley; Hughes, Morgan; Romain, Joseph; Duplacey, James (2003). The Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International Inc. ISBN 0-7853-9624-1.
Notes
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-09-29. Retrieved 2013-11-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "1993-94 NHL Goalie Statistics". Hockey-Reference.com.
  3. "1974-75 NHL Goalie Statistics". Hockey-Reference.com.
  4. Kerr, Grant (April 1, 1993). "NHL formally announces complete realignment package". The Globe and Mail. Canadian Press. p. C8.
  5. "Golden Knights vs. Jets - Game Recap - February 1, 2018". ESPN.
  6. Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
  7. "1993-1994 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.
  8. "1993-94 NHL Leaders". Hockey-Reference.com.
  9. NHL trade deadline: Deals since 1980 | Habs Inside/Out Archived 2009-02-16 at the Wayback Machine
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